Monday, October 26, 2015

2015 Exhibits

2015 Exhibits, Part 1

by Judy Thomas

Since last I posted, the CVABA has had two exhibits, our annual exhibit at the Tuckahoe Public Library in June and a new exhibit, at the Atlee Public Library. The Tuckahoe Library was our annual exhibit, entitled "Weeds are Flowers, Too, Once You Get to Know Them" from a quote by A.A. Milne. Both exhibits were well-received by visitors to both libraries.

We wanted an educational component for the Tuckahoe "Weeds..." exhibit, so artists wrote up an explanation about the weed, including what interested them about it. For example, Susan Estes wrote about her dandelion:

"This
little plant is one of nature’s “tough guys”. Dandelions are found worldwide
and seem to thrive in some of the most inhospitable habitats — driveways,
walkways, and roadsides. The characteristic yellow flower provides food for
bees. Leaves are lance-shaped and deeply toothed. The name
“dandelion” comes from “Dente de lion”, the Old French phrase for “lion’s
tooth."

Lizzie McCowan wrote about pokeweed:

"This glorious plant hardly looks like a weed, but
I find it to be one. It grows at the edge of the woodland in our new garden and
spreads easily through the flowerbeds...and takes much digging out as it
spreads from the root. It can grow to eight feet and I particularly like the
manner in which the flowers ripen through green to purple imitated by the stems
and the racemes eventually droop with the weight of the berries. It is toxic,
the root and berries being exceptionally so, but the boiled leaves have been
used occasionally in pies. I do not expect to try this!"

Here is an excerpt from Angel Zhao's write up on Woods' Forget-Me-Not:

"I first
encountered forget-me-nots in my parents’ front yard in Toronto, Canada. A few
of them sprouted in a small area originally designated for other plants. We
left them alone because we liked the lovely blue blossoms. Little did we know
more would spring up by the next year, slowly over-taking the other plants. The
seed pods propagate by attaching to clothing or fur and getting transported to
other areas. Some birds would also pick up the seeds. Since we left the plants
unchecked, they were able to self-seed and expand the coverage. After a few
years, the forget-me-nots have become the main feature of that small section of
land. In the meantime, we tried to prevent them from spreading to the rest of
the yard by digging up the largest patch. They continued to pop up here and
there to this date."

Here are some images from the "Weeds" exhibit (photos courtesy Judith Towers):

We also had our usual display cases, depicting aspects of botanical art, nature journaling, as well as other arts and crafts related to botanical art: